Jal, Jangal, Zameen

The birth of Adivasi Mahila Mahasangh (AMM)

“I did not know anything; whether one needed to start work first and then register the sanstha, or register first and then begin the work. I was completely naïve,” Mamta reminisces about the early days. “Somehow I formed the sangathan with some other like-minded people, and without much planning or thinking, we named it Jashpur Jan Vikas Sanstha. We did not even know where the registration could be done, but we were helped by an uncle of mine. He guided us through the registration process which was done in Bilaspur in 2003. Since my uncle had quite a bit of influence, the registration was complete in just about 3 months, after we paid a sum of Rs.5,000.” The sangathan then began to work in the villages. It was first essential to understand how they would enter the villages as complete strangers and how they could possibly work with the people.

Chittorgarh district lies in the south eastern part of Rajasthan and has a population of over 18 lakhs. 85% of the people live in rural areas, agriculture and mining being the main sources of livelihood. Most of the land is owned by the jats, and the dalits and tribal communities, owing to the insignificant size of their land holdings, are forced to work in mines or on the lands of others often as bonded labour. Feudal attitudes and practices continue to have a strong presence in the region.

Maati started as a small group of women who came together in the mid 1990s to protest against rampant alcoholism. In 1994, within one month there were two cases in which husbands in their drunkenness had burnt their wives to death, but there was a conspiracy of silence around these shocking incidents with nobody willing to speak up. Malika, Basanti and a few others got together, held meetings in several villages and mobilised women, writing post cards to people’s representatives in villages all around. 1000 women came forward for a meeting in Munsiyari where they put forth a memorandum to the SDM asking for the sale of alcohol to be stopped. This protest became a seed from which the sangathan grew into a space for women to meet, talk, express themselves, and share their joys and sorrows.

Brief Background

Situated in the heart of India, Nagpur has has a long history of several social, cultural, political movements. In the early 90s when the new liberalisation policy was much talked about, the Indira Sagar dam on Vainganga river was inaugurated in 1988. It was initiated under the tribal sub-plan of the Sixth Five-Year Plan (1980-1985) of the Government of India, aimed at developing in particular the tribal region of the district of Chandrapur, situated in the command area. Its completion is expected by the end of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, which makes it one of the oldest river-basin projects to be achieved, despite being of a comparatively small size if put in perspective with the heard-of infamous Sardar Sarovar or older dams such as Hirakud.

Background

Tamil Nadu: A Brief Summary

From the colonial period onwards, the area that now comprises Tamil Nadu followed a political trajectory that reflected the struggles of the Dravidian movement and a structure of agrarian relations that was more complex than that of the northern States.

Dhenkanal and its adjoining districts were under feudal rule before independence. This region is rich in its forest and mineral resources. The tribals being forest dwellers settled in these forests after migrating from Singhbhum and Santhal Parganas in search of habitation. The kings during those times settled the tribals to protect the forests from fire and smugglers. Those settlements were then declared as forest villages by the king.

Dhenkanal is one of the centrally positioned districts of Odisha and is surrounded by Keonjhar, Jajpur, Cuttack and Angul districts. Surrounded by mountains and dense forests, these regions are abundant in natural resources. The economy of the districts is predominantly agrarian. A larger section of the rural population (mostly adivasis) holds very little or no agricultural land. They work as agricultural labourers and depend on daily wages.